A first impression is important, especially when running a small business where everyone is shouting at the top of their lungs to get a potential client’s attention.
We all know that social media and your website are top ways to show off who and what your brand is all about and you no doubt are already at least in the SM game.
But what about once that potential dream client of yours becomes a ‘lead’? Have you considered what type of client relationship journey you will take them on right up until the contract is signed and invoice is paid?
And, do you have the time to DIY that whole process? Or, you already are and know that as you gain more and more clients, the time spent sending out every single item on your own is time lost doing client work and more marketing.
Enter a CRM (client relationship management) tool. From the time your potential client fills out a lead capture form or schedules an initial call, you want to continue the high-level client experience AND keep your sanity by not having to do ALL of the things yourself ALL of the time.
Dubsado, Honeybook, and Hello Bonsai are three very popular tools in the creative and Virtual Assistant world that help you streamline your business by automating so much of the initial client relationship.
What a CRM can do:
- Invoices and payments
- Reports
- Task lists
- Scheduling
- Form templates – contracts, questionnaires, proposals, lead captures
- Canned emails
- Packages for your proposals
- Client Portal – where your clients can view all documentation that you’ve sent
- Automate, automate, automate with workflows – you can literally have the system do EVERYTHING for you so you can focus on other important areas of your biz. Workflows can be as simplistic or complicated as you need them.
I personally use Dubsado and it’s what works for me. Everyone is different and you’ll have to experiment with a couple of different softwares before knowing what is best for you.
It’s really a game changer in your business to have all of your CRM processes in one space and once you set it up the way you want, you can sit back and breathe easy as it takes care of all the pre-onboarding interactions!
(the above is an affiliate link – I only ever recommend tools I use and love!)